New Jewish TV Show for Kids

“Shaboom!,”an animated web series premiering this spring from non-profit G-dcast, combines the best elements of children’s television with wisdom from the Jewish tradition to teach everyday values to children through magic, comedy and silly songs. Each of the ten children’s episodes is accompanied by a separate video for parents that delves into the episode’s value, explaining “what’s Jewish” about it, and giving parents the knowledge and confidence to model the values for their children.

Each episode of Shaboom! features the “magical sparks” Gabi & Rafael who work to fix the world, while focusing on that episode’s theme. After episode one, other themes include Gratitude, Honor or Respect, Taking Care of Nature, and Courage of the Heart, among others.

Shaboom! additionally builds vocabulary for parents and children around the concepts, in both English and Hebrew. The producers formally tested this idea on target audience members and found that parents, regardless of their religious or cultural background, strongly favored a show that taught words from another language and that featured a diverse cast of characters.